Glenn Howerton is fascinated by jerks. “I’m obsessed with people who behave horribly,” he explains during a recent phone call with Vanity Fair. “Listening to them try and justify their behavior is very funny to me.” Howerton has spent 12 seasons indulging this interest as a creator and star of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia—and now he’s taking on a different egomaniac via NBC’s new sitcom A.P. Bio, premiering February 1.

In the series from former Saturday Night Live writer and performer Mike O’Brien, Howerton plays Jack Griffin, a onetime Harvard philosophy professor who returns to his hometown to teach high school after an embarrassingly viral “tenure fail.” As Jack points out in the pilot’s opening moments, he actually has no interest in helping his eager students. Instead, he wants to destroy his academic nemesis, Miles (Tom Bennett), and get laid, neither of which comes particularly easily to him.

Howerton is quick to admit that Jack shares similarities with Dennis, his character on It’s Always Sunny—but explains that they’re not entirely the same: “Dennis likes to think he’s smart, but he’s probably pretty dumb,” he says. “Jack thinks he’s super-smart, and he is. I’d like to think he’s intellectually superior in many ways, but he’s emotionally quite immature.”

Howerton was searching for projects outside of Sunny when his agents passed along the A.P. Bio script. He wasn’t expecting to land on network television; years of boundary-pushing on cable have made him more interested in the strange than the safe.

But O’Brien—known for his oddly heartfelt S.N.L. shorts like “Sad Mouse” and “Monster Pals”—ended up being a perfect fit for Howerton’s sensibility. “Working over the years as a comedy writer,” he says, “you can’t help but develop your own sense of what’s funny and what isn’t, what’s right, what’s wrong. I read the script and I was like, dude, this guy wrote this role for me, and he doesn’t even know me.”

Howerton wanted to ensure that the biting tone that attracted him to the project wouldn’t disappear when it went to series. Executive producer Lorne Michaels soon put him in his place. “Lorne was really funny, because he kind of turned to me and he was like,” here, Howerton launches into a nasally Michaels impression, ”‘Do you think that I would actually let that happen?’ It was almost like he was insulted that I was implying that this thing could turn into something a little more—you know, I don’t know—generic.”

Jack is certainly not the only ill-intentioned educator in the annals of recent pop culture—see: School of Rock and Bad Teacher, both of which have been adapted for various media—or even the only narcissistic misanthrope currently being played by an It’s Always Sunny cast member on network TV. (See also: Fox’s The Mick, starring Kaitlin Olson.) But A.P. Bio has a particularly offbeat rhythm that lets its audience stew in uncomfortable silences.

Jack gets away with his lackluster performance because his Harvard credentials and general swagger carry weight for Patton Oswalt’s batted-around Principal Durbin. But while the protagonist may have no interest in actually teaching biology, his high-achieving students do have an interest in digging into the material. (After all, there’s that A.P. test looming.) “The kids, of course, are absolutely concerned about the test, and they’re absolutely concerned about passing the class and all that kind of stuff. But one of the things that I love about it is their intentions are actually more pure than that,” Howerton says. “They really want to learn.”

That said, there aren’t many touching moments of Jack rising above his pettiness. Still, Howerton thinks he may be doing some good, even accidentally. “He inadvertently ends up treating them like adults instead of treating them like kids,” he says, citing Jack’s “no raised hands” rule. “So in a way, he’s kind of teaching them what it’s like to be an adult.”

Howerton has a producing credit on A.P. Bio, but he’s certainly less involved in the behind-the-scenes creative process than he has been on Sunny—a change that he says was “difficult,” though he trusts in O’Brien’s vision. As for whether he’ll be back on Sunny? Well, scheduling wouldn’t be an issue, he says, nor would his obligations to NBC. But he’s still hesitant to give an unequivocal answer, mainly because he thinks the query is misdirected. “The question that I’m being asked is: ‘Are you coming back to the show?’ But really the question is: ‘Is Dennis coming back?’” (Since speaking with V.F., he issued a longer statement on the matter on Twitter.)

In last year’s It’s Always Sunny finale, Dennis announced that he was leaving in order to be a father to the child he just found out he had. What’s to become of him? Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day haven’t made that call yet, and the season 13 writers’ room hasn’t yet convened. “We’re letting the creative decision of where we want to go with the show with these characters and with that story line, we’re letting that dictate what happens,” Howerton says.

For now, fans will just have to settle for another Howerton character who “mask[s] devastating insecurity with presenting themselves as better than or above other people.” In other words, another one of his jerks.

Claire Underwood

Robin Wright’s environmental activist is apparently just as ruthless with her tailoring as she is with her nonprofit, demanding flawlessly fitted shift dresses, pencil skirts, and overcoats in no-nonsense shades of ink black, gray, and white. The Angelina Jolie of serialized programming, she can even make a cashmere robe or workout gear seem chic.

Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

Roger Sterling

Whether making off-color comments in a client meeting or enjoying a three-martini lunch, John Slattery’s *Mad Men *alter-ego always looks the part of the dapper Madison Avenue executive with his slim three-piece suits, smart double-breasted jackets, and pocket squares with triple-peaked folds so elaborate they deserve their own credit.

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Olivia Pope

Olivia Pope’s elegant Escada pantsuits, Burberry trenches, and structured Armani blazers are so coveted by the Internet that they’ve earned their own fan base and multiple Pinterest pages, espousing the Kerry Washington character’s feminine take on capitol style.

Photo: Courtesy of ABC.

Ike Evans

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character epitomizes late-50s Miami Beach glamour, signaled in his wardrobe by cream-colored dinner jackets, skinny ties, and copper-colored suits, accessorized, more often than not, with a Cuban cigar.

Photo: Courtesy of Starz.

Megan Draper

Don Draper’s second wife, played by Jessica Paré, was the breakout character of Mad Men’s fifth season—not just because of her ability to sing sexy yé-yé pop songs but because of her lust-worthy, Janie Bryant–stocked closet. However, none of Megan Draper’s signature pieces—like the 60s print blouses, pantsuits, and tangerine-colored mini-dresses—can compare to the now-famous bat-winged cocktail dress she wore to Don’s 40th.

Photo: Courtesy of AMC.

Enoch “Nucky” Thompson

For Steve Buscemi’s character, nothing says swagger and polished gangster style like an eye-catching accessory. “Nucky” likes to pair his three-piece suits with patterned ties, two-tone Oxford shoes, suspenders, bowler hats with grosgrain detail, and even the occasional flower in his lapel.

Claire Underwood

Robin Wright’s environmental activist is apparently just as ruthless with her tailoring as she is with her nonprofit, demanding flawlessly fitted shift dresses, pencil skirts, and overcoats in no-nonsense shades of ink black, gray, and white. The Angelina Jolie of serialized programming, she can even make a cashmere robe or workout gear seem chic.

Courtesy of Netflix.

Roger Sterling

Whether making off-color comments in a client meeting or enjoying a three-martini lunch, John Slattery’s *Mad Men *alter-ego always looks the part of the dapper Madison Avenue executive with his slim three-piece suits, smart double-breasted jackets, and pocket squares with triple-peaked folds so elaborate they deserve their own credit.

Courtesy of AMC.

Olivia Pope

Olivia Pope’s elegant Escada pantsuits, Burberry trenches, and structured Armani blazers are so coveted by the Internet that they’ve earned their own fan base and multiple Pinterest pages, espousing the Kerry Washington character’s feminine take on capitol style.

Courtesy of ABC.

Ike Evans

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character epitomizes late-50s Miami Beach glamour, signaled in his wardrobe by cream-colored dinner jackets, skinny ties, and copper-colored suits, accessorized, more often than not, with a Cuban cigar.

Courtesy of Starz.

Diane Lockhart

The Good Wife costume designer Daniel Lawson has said that he has probably 250 designer suits on hand for the immaculately styled Diane Lockhart, played by Christine Baranski—most often, sophisticated designs by Ferragamo, Escada, and Givenchy in muted tones.

Courtesy of CBS.

Lady Mary Crawley

Whether she’s buttoned up in tweed or dressed in a gauzy tea-party shift, the eldest Crawley sister (Michelle Dockery) consistently resists the siren call of waistless, potato-sack frump that lured many a beautiful lady to ruin during the inter-war years.

Courtesy of PBS.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham

Perhaps most dapper in white tie and waistcoat, the Crawley-family patriarch, played by Hugh Bonneville, frequently cuts a fine figure in olive green, too—while dressed up in his belted British-military uniform, touring the Scottish Highlands in wool knickers, and, most notoriously, rendezvousing in a brocade dressing gown with the housemaid Jane.

Courtesy of PBS.

Megan Draper

Don Draper’s second wife, played by Jessica Paré, was the breakout character of Mad Men’s fifth season—not just because of her ability to sing sexy yé-yé pop songs but because of her lust-worthy, Janie Bryant–stocked closet. However, none of Megan Draper’s signature pieces—like the 60s print blouses, pantsuits, and tangerine-colored mini-dresses—can compare to the now-famous bat-winged cocktail dress she wore to Don’s 40th.

Courtesy of AMC.

Enoch “Nucky” Thompson

For Steve Buscemi’s character, nothing says swagger and polished gangster style like an eye-catching accessory. “Nucky” likes to pair his three-piece suits with patterned ties, two-tone Oxford shoes, suspenders, bowler hats with grosgrain detail, and even the occasional flower in his lapel.